Sports Media

CORAL GABLES, Fla.  College football powers Notre Dame and Miami appear ready to play again after nearly 20 years apart. The once-vaunted rivals are nearing a deal for a three-game series, starting with a game at Chicago's Soldier Field in 2012, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Friday. The game would be followed by a home-and-home, likely in 2014 and 2016. The Chicago Tribune first reported that the teams were nearing a deal to play in 2012. Games between the Fighting Irish and the Hurricanes were must-see television in the 1980s, when the schools engaged in one of college football's most heated series - and those infamous "Catholics vs. Convicts" T-shirts haven't been forgotten in South Bend or South Florida, either. Apparently, both sides decided it's time to forget the past. "It's a game that would be great for both universities," said the person familiar with the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity because no deal has been signed. "Everyone involved wants it to happen." The game makes sense for a number of reasons. ...

All the major sporting events on TV each year, and exactly one attracts more female viewers than male viewers. No, it’s not Strikeforce MMA. It’s the Kentucky Derby, the “Greatest Two Minutes in Sport,” even if millions of Americans, female and male, will watch it Saturday for reasons that have little or nothing to do with the race itself. In fact, many of the people watching wouldn’t know the difference between a fetlock and a ...

Wait, the NCAA did something right? I’m not sure what expanding the NCAA basketball tournament from 65 to 68 teams starting in 2011 accomplishes, other than allowing three more undeserving power-conference teams into the field and creating three more play-in games for fans not to care about, but it sure beats the heck out of going to 96 teams, which until Thursday seemed as certain as a sunny San Diego day. Of course, the last ...

Another organization is about to mess up a good thing. OK, so this isn’t as bad as the NCAA’s likely move to a 96-team men’s basketball tournament; this isn’t even an actual sporting event, really. But for those of you who love (worship, adore, etc.) the NFL Draft, what the league is doing to “your” event is shameful. For so many years a staple on the weekend, the draft now will be conducted over three ...

AUGUSTA, Ga.  For the record, the first picture on ESPN’s telecast of the Masters at 1 p.m. PDT yesterday was Tiger Woods walking up the eighth fairway at Augusta National. You were expecting Louis Oosthuizen? “One of the most anticipated rounds of golf in recent memory and certainly the most anticipated sporting event of 2010,” host Mike Tirico said. ESPN quickly showed Woods’ introduction at the first tee from nearly 2 1/2 hours earlier ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods’ first competitive tee shot in nearly five months will be shown live at 10:42 a.m. PDT today on ESPN and Masters.com. And then, the most anticipated golf round in, well, a long time, will go dark. ESPN will show highlights of Woods’ front nine at about 11 a.m. and noon, and Masters.com surely will follow Woods’ round when the “Masters Extra” show airs from noon until shortly before 1 p.m. ...

NEW YORK  The NCAA championship game matched its highest preliminary television rating since 1999. Duke's 61-59 win over Butler on Monday night on CBS earned a 16.0 overnight rating and 25 share. That's up 34 percent from the 11.9/19 for North Carolina's blowout against Michigan State last year. It tied the 16.0/23 for North Carolina-Illinois in 2005 as the best since a 16.9/25 in 1999 for Connecticut-Duke. The entire tournament averaged a 6.6 overnight ...

I have a friend who drives his 15-year-old daughter to school every day, and he swears they listen to Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith on XX Sports Radio. (Yes, I’ve thought about reporting him to the authorities, but he’s a good friend and she seems like a smart, well-adjusted kid, so I’ve held off.) Anyway, the friend sent an e-mail telling me they were in the car yesterday morning listening to John Kentera and ...

I have a friend who drives his 15-year-old daughter to school every day, and he swears they listen to Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith on XX Sports Radio. (Yes, I’ve thought about reporting him to the authorities, but he’s a good friend and she seems like a smart, well-adjusted kid, so I’ve held off.) Anyway, the friend sent an e-mail telling me they were in the car yesterday morning listening to John Kentera and ...

While Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith sit out their self-imposed absences just a few miles from the XX Sports Radio studios, the station is calling long distance for its newest fill-in host. Hello, Philly Billy. “I’m as shocked as you are,” Bill Werndl said yesterday from his home in Coatesville, Pa., about 45 miles west of Philadelphia. Yes, it’s the same Werndl who was fired as a host by XX Sports in December 2008, ...

The rumor was out there yesterday: Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith would be back on XX Sports Radio starting Monday. Turns out that, except for the fact ESPN didn’t try to take credit for “breaking” it, this rumor was like most — false. Maybe it was just wishful thinking by people who heard the fill-in show the past two days. Whatever the case, the drama continues, with today marking the end of the second ...